The beginning of a success story – Citroën Toys

In 1923, André Citroën set the tone by saying that children’s first words should be “Father, Mother and Citroën”. With these words, Les Jouets Citroën or in English Citroën Toys were launched.

In a confidential document, the factory explained that it wanted to add toy propaganda to its advertising in order to attract children’s attention to Citroën. The brand urged its agents to display and sell the small cars. In the sale of these little cars, the results of this advertising may not be seen for a long time, but the effectiveness will be certain.

The great era of Citroën Toys began in 1922 and ended in 1934.

Fernand Migault had the idea for the Citroën toys, his father Albert Migault had a small workshop in Paris where he produced toy clocks, dolls’ ornaments and other objects. Fernand took over in 1919. He had a perfect knowledge of mechanics and he added new items to his collection either related to the automobile or mechanics. André Citroën had launched his Type A in 1919, followed by the B5 and B2, and Fernand Migault realized that the development of his business should accompany the program of the Citroën factory. He asked his cousin Marcel Gourdet, a remarkable artist, to help him create a faithful model of the B2.

They built the model car and it looked great, but the difficulty was to show it to André Citroën because he wasn’t someone you just met. M. Debord, a friend of Fernand Migault, arranged this meeting and André Citroën studied the model car toy and he was very enthusiastic. For André Citroën, the little car was well made and if the retailers would sell it, it would be a very effective advertising and a priceless advantage by being a free constant publicity.

At a dealer banquet in 1932, he told the dealers that they should even take in children at an early age, because a child’s first words should be “Father, Mother and Citroën”.

This agreement opened up new horizons for both companies.

For a while, it was envisaged that the toys would be manufactured by the Citroën factory, and a few toys were undoubtedly built, but it was a flash in the pan.

When “Jouet André Citroën” was founded in 1922, the company had seven employees (including the Gourdet brothers, Georges as director and Marcel as model maker). The workforce grew to 200over time! Among the first seven employees was Mr. Chevalier, who recalls: “It was Marcel Gourdet who, based on the original models or plans of the real car, reduced them to 1/10th scale and then built the toy piece by piece: chassis, doors, hood, wings, etc. …. The whole was assembled by welding!

The first year they already sold 15,000 model cars of the “Torpedo”!